


All Tied Up

by thewightknight



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Antaam-saar, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, impractical armor, qunari armor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 15:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5297075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/pseuds/thewightknight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To cement their alliance with the Inquisition, a Qunari delegation is arriving at Skyhold. Josephine thinks it would be a good idea if Rhain meets them clad in qunari "armor."</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Tied Up

**Author's Note:**

> Entirely inspired by screenshots of [Rhain in Antaam-saar](http://thewightknight.tumblr.com/post/134065833313/impractical-armor-for-both-genders-victoria). I highly approve of equal opportunity impractical armor.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Rhain asked as Leliana and Bull worked. “It won’t seem disrespectful or anything?” He was grasping at straws. Anything to avoid going out in public like this.

Bull grunted, but it turned out he was absorbed in his work and not actually responding to Rhain’s complaint.

Josephine wasn’t to be dissuaded. “They were kind enough to send us all these specifications for their armor. It’s the least we can do to show our appreciation when they arrive.”

“I’d feel more comfortable if I just greeted them in my smallclothes.”

“It could be worse. It could be Avvar armor. You’d sweat out your weight in no time, buried in all those furs,” Leliana said as she tied off the last rope.

“No, instead I have to worry about hypothermia,” he countered. “But how is this supposed to protect me? Qunari paint their skin with magical poison armor, they don’t need their guts covered. I can’t do that unless I want to, you know, die horribly,” he said. Dagna had at least managed to weave the rope around silverite wire, and had worked some runes into the solid bits that provided almost the same effect as painting his skin with vitaar would have, but without the deadly side effects. It only affected the areas of his body where the harness and ropes touched, however.

Rhain stepped his protestations up a notch when Josephine turned him so he faced the full length mirror that had been brought into her office.

“ _Mythal’enaste!_ " he swore. The chestpiece covered only half his ribcage, and the pants, while fitting snugly enough, appeared as if they’d fall off if he sneezed. He tugged at them, trying to pull them up at least to his navel. “If these rode any lower I’d need two hairstyles!”

Leliana clapped her hand to her mouth to hold her giggle in, and Josephine nearly dropped her clipboard. Bull stood stock still for an instant, eye glazing over, then shook his head. “That was mean, boss.”

He took another look in the mirror, realized he was sucking in his stomach and berated himself for it. It’s not like he was some sedentary Circle mage, after all. Dalish Keepers and their Firsts still scouted and hunted, and led as active a life as any other elf in the clan, and being with the Inquisition hadn’t allowed for sloth either. If anything, he was fitter now than when he’d first arrived at Haven. 

Alright, he told himself as he took a deep breath. He could do this. It would only be for the first day, for the arrival of the Qunari delegates. Afterwards he could go back to his regular, less revealing, garb. Just one day, he repeated himself, and then had to fight to cover himself as Cassandra entered.

“The scouts say the Qunari are less than an hour … away ….” She trailed off, eyes wide, as Rhain turned towards her. He watched as her eyes traveled down his torso, and he could almost feel the weight of her gaze on the turn of his hip where it rose above the waistband of these ridiculous pants. She swallowed visibly and flushed a bright red, turning so her shoulder was facing him and she was staring at Leliana instead. 

“Please tell me I don’t have to go out there half naked,” he pled, and Cassandra’s flush deepened. He calculated the angles at which she was standing and looking, and he was certain she was sneaking peaks at him in the mirror. 

“If nothing else, think of my safety. It doesn’t matter how many runes Dagna wove into this stuff, the entire lower half of my torso is still unprotected. What if there’s an assassin? I might as well have ‘STAB ME HERE’ written across my stomach.”

This drew Cassandra’s eyes back to him. If asked, he would emphatically deny that he sucked in his stomach again when she looked. She muttered something unintelligible under her breath and turned back, almost facing the wall, adding “The Inquisitor is right. It would be unseemly for him to appear in public like this.”

He couldn’t resist. “In the bedroom, maybe.” 

“I am going to …,” Cassandra cleared her throat. “I will be waiting at the gates for the delegation’s arrival. Please join when you are … when you …. I’m going now.” She did not run out of Josephine’s office, but it was a near thing. She did turn as she closed the door behind her, eyes raking up and down Rhain one more time before she disappeared.

Rhain bit the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning at her reaction, but the grin disappeared when he caught sight of himself in the mirror again.

“Alright, no. I am not wearing this. I’ll wear one of those ridiculous outfits you had made for Halamshiral, but this? I am not appearing in public in this.” Josephine started to protest again, and Rhain raised a hand. “Not going to argue about it. This is not happening.”

“Yeah, save it for the bedroom, boss,” Bull rumbled, and Leliana and Josephine shrieked in unison.

The ropes came off much faster than they’d gone on, but he still barely had time to race up to his quarters and change before the delegation arrived. 

Cassandra nodded in approval when he appeared at her side, clad in robes of green velvet and gold silk. As with all of his formal clothing, the robes were functional as well as decorative. 

“Much better,” she said.

“I couldn’t agree more.” He paused, then gave her a wicked grin. “Bull said I was right. Save the other outfit for the bedroom.”

He expected her to blush again, but instead she met his gaze, the corner of her mouth curling upwards as she looked him up and down. “We are in complete agreement on that.” 

Caught unprepared by her forthrightness, and by the heat in her eyes, he felt himself flush. The tips of his ears were still burning when the first qunari rode through the gates.


End file.
